I have always had a fascination for the beautiful birds of South America and in particular the magnificant red, blue and yellow plumage of the Macaws.
We had travelled up the Rio Tambopata to an area that is renowned for being able to see the Macaws when they come down to land on one of the claylicks nearby. Near the Wasai lodge is one of the largest claylicks in the Amazon and normally there can be hundreds of these birds landing there. No-one is 100% sure why the birds due seek out the claylicks but they believe that they need the minerals in the clay to help supplement their diet and to aid digestion.
The only catch with seeing the Macaws land is fine weather, apparently they do not land if it is wet or raining.
The night before we were due to journey further up the river to the Macaw claylick, a Toucan made its presense felt with its warble. "Uh-oh," our guide said. "That unfortunately means rain." Sure enough, next morning it was pouring. Finally when it eased off a little we made our way up the river to the main claylick but it was empty.
We then journeyed along the river further and circled around traipsing through inches and inches of thick, red mud to another claylick and same thing.
We did see some flying overhead but it was just too wet for them to want to land.
Eventually we gave up and headed back to the Lodge in disgust. Sometimes you just can''t help bad luck. Luckily we had seen a couple on the smaller claylick back down the river as we were passing.
Just a point to note in the first photo below: this is the actual distance that you are able and allowed to get to the claylick. So if you want those great photos bring a big zoom and pack your binoculars as it is still quite a long distance.